Had my final run to the tailor this past week. You’d be surprised (or not at all) at the percentage of class time I spend daydreaming about what I’m going to do next with my most recently-purchased batch of fabric. This last time I finally decided on four dresses, a skirt, and a shirt—so nervous and hopeful they would turn out! Our local tailor, Ousmane, can be kind of hit or miss. Describing intricate dresses in French and Wolof, something is bound to get lost in translation. So at times it can be a pretty big shot in the dark—especially since we’re having non-traditional Senegalese clothes made.
Still, having clothes made here has been really fun, very cheap, and quite addicting! And if something doesn’t turn out right, I can just take it back to Ousmane and he’ll work with it until it’s good. The last dress took 5 attempts. Mostly worth it in the end :) But comparing tailor horror stories has definitely become a favorite pastime among my friends. The best ones come from people who live in the Ouakam neighborhood because their tailor only speaks Wolof. HA! He’s produced some real gems.
But when I went back to Ousmane this time, it was straight up Senegalese magic. Not only did he produce what I wanted, but he added little flourishes and details that improved on the original design I gave him… and all but one dress fit perfectly! Even that mishap was pretty easily remedied, and as I sat and waited for Ousmane to fix it up, “Chariots of Fire” started playing on the radio… amazing new dresses, the ultimate victory music, total elation. Magical.
Ha.
So we’re in the midst of finals. I have my Wolof final on Monday morning, and other than that it’s mostly final papers. Quite a few of them, actually, and mostly all in French. Haven’t done any homework this weekend yet because I’ve been focusing on social studies in the Senegalese night clubs… Thursday, Friday, and going for the hat trick tonight. That’s pretty standard though, even for the States—that’s what Sunday is for—homework. It’ll get done, choloo (no worries).
I was organizing my rubrics though for the many papers I have to write (so at least it’s organized and prepared procrastination) and was surprised to find one assignment sheet missing. I gave it some good thought and realized finally… I’m pretty sure I used it as a napkin to eat a mango on in class. That’s when you know you have your priorities straight.
Geez.
Thursday during our lunch break I went with two of my good girl friends down to the beach to do some yoga. You may have just said to yourself, “I didn’t know Lindsay does yoga!?” Ha, well you’re right. I don’t. The girls I did it with are real pro, too. I would’ve loved a video tape of me frantically trying to follow their smooth movements. Many a time my “airplane” pose ended in flailing arms and pitching over in the sand while they were gracefully poised and frozen in position. Still, I enjoyed the whole “yoga looking out over the ocean” deal. It’s crazy seeing that Big Blue with no land in sight and knowing I’m gonna cross that big guy in a week!
Saying goodbye is not too much in the forefront of my thoughts right now. I’m really determined to be in Europe next summer/year hopefully teaching in France after Witt (or backpacking! A ton of people on my program are doing that this summer and I’ve been inspired! Time to start saving!)… and it’d be so easy to book a flight through Dakar and just hang out for a week or whatever on my way over. It’s in the perfect location for that, not out of the way at all! I really am dead set on it.
No way could I live in Dakar long term—I need winter. But there are so many people I care so much about here, and I am so in love with the ambiance, the culture, the city, the way of life here…I can’t imagine not coming back. It makes saying goodbye easier because I know I will see these people again. Inshallah. And I’ll happily take a “see you later” over a “goodbye” any day.
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